The last thing I expected from a New York Times Magazine article on Sarah Palin was for it to change my opinion of her . . . for the better. Yet Robert Draper’s lengthy Sunday report, “The Palin Network,” forced me to re-examine assumptions about her seriousness in preparing for a possible run for president, as well as her potential to surprise critics should that moment actually arrive.

Draper depicts Palin almost as a force of nature — tireless, driven, confident of her instincts, totally in charge — but also, and perhaps most notably, as someone willing to immerse herself in study rather than be spoon-fed opinions by aides.

Those who prefer to cling to a vision of Palin as a shallow hick will especially want to avoid Draper’s piece.

Of course, not every Palin skeptic thought she was a hick in the first place. Some of us who generally shared her political agenda and admired her record as a reformer willing to buck the inbred establishment simply considered her experience in 2008 too thin to justify her selection as John McCain’s running mate. And that judgment was borne out by her stumbles in early interviews and her underwhelming performance debating Joe Biden.

Nor was it apparent that she had spent much time thinking about foreign policy or was particularly well-versed in a broad range of federal issues. None of this excuses the savage mockery unleashed upon her and her family from some quarters of the news and entertainment media during the campaign. It just means she was a flawed candidate who wasn’t quite ready for prime time.

Unfortunately, Draper’s article is not entirely reassuring regarding her potential for 2012, either. Sure, she’ll be skillfully conversant by then with virtually any public policy issue likely to surface at center stage — and maybe is already. Earlier this month, she even waded into the deep waters of Fed monetary policy without batting an eye.

But will she be able to connect with voters beyond that considerable swath of Republicans and Tea Party types who line up to buy her books and cheer her appearances? Will she appeal to the independents and centrists who currently tell pollsters they view her unfavorably?

She reached out to such voters when she ran for governor in 2006, but these days seems to direct her pronouncements to the chorus already singing her praises.

Ronald Reagan was a polarizing figure, too, who was also savaged by the left and many in the press. Yet he managed to attract a broad spectrum of voters. One difference is that Reagan projected a reassuring quality and a dignity that Palin, frankly, lacks. (His resume was a whole lot heftier, too.)

Nor did Reagan stoop to grapple with every unworthy critic. Palin, by contrast, seems to thrive on petty sniping and in portraying herself as the target of arrogant elites, even when the theme has no relevance.

Not long ago, for example, she responded to a wholly sober critique by a Wall Street Journal blogger of her claim that food prices “have risen significantly over the past year or so” with another annoying bid for victim status. “Now I realize I’m just a former governor and current housewife from Alaska,” she wrote sarcastically in reply, “but even humble folks like me can read the newspaper.”

Yes, times have changed since Reagan, and politicians are judged by somewhat different standards. And while Karl Rove may be wrong in thinking a reality TV series such as “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” detracts from her “gravitas” — most voters probably won’t give it a second thought — surely his larger point about Americans wanting a candidate to appear presidential remains intact.

If the recent Senate elections should have taught Republicans anything, it’s that conservatives can lose even in a conservative year if they come across as too hard-edged or erratic.

And who’s to say 2012 will turn out to be another golden year for the GOP anyway, with such a generous margin for error?

More in Opinion

The back-to-back events of the midterm election and the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California left America reeling like news that the small town football team had been killed in a car accident on the way to the state championship game. At the very moment we were meant to celebrate our democracy we were forced to mourn one of its...

Looking forward to more compromise in government First, I am a proud Coloradan. Second, I am a proud Denverite. Third, I am a proud Democrat. While thrilled about the deep blue wave that swept Colorado on Election Day, I remain deeply concerned about the future of my state.

The world's oldest political party has developed an aversion to discretion. The Democratic Party is manacled to an over-caffeinated base that believes that deft government can deliver parity of status to everyone while micromanaging the economy's health care sector, which is larger than all but three other foreign nations' economies. Inconveniently, the party must appeal to voters who, living in...